hello fellow e-bayer's i have been selling on e-bay almost 2 year's heres some tips on how to find stuff to sell, go to auctions in your local town, if you wait around towards the end of auctions the prices start going down, this is a great way to get box lots of various items for a few dollars, most people dont look through the box lots thinking it is all junk, however thats not true, in past i have found autographed baseball signed by team players, that box cost me 3 dollars, i sold the baseball for over 400 dollars., it is also a good idea to read alot of books price guides the more you know the better off you are, next is estate sales. get there early at least 2 hours before sale starts, check to see if they are passing out numbers, most estate sales will not let people in early, make sure you get low number, most estate sales let in 10 people at a time in my area., you have to be fast and alert at these as there could be some items priced way below what they are worth. i always try to grab whatever i think is good or what i know is a good item, dont waste time looking at one item for 5 minutes, by then the other people could be grabbing all the best deals, you can always examine the items after you went through the estate before you pay for item, if it has a problem or is broken just set it back down., another tip is i learned from my mistake Never Ever set something down and ask the people to hold it or watch it for you even if they are working there and tell you it will be safe, i have lost many rare items one example from 4 years ago is i picked up a beatles metal lunchbox from the 60,s with thermos it was brand new still had tags mint as from the day it was sold the price was 75 dollars. i told the lady i wanted it and set it down, i then went up in the attic as they had more items up there i grabbed some other things then went back down to pay my bill, when i asked the lady where my lunchbox was, she told me my wife paid for it and left about 10 minutes ago, WHAT?? i said i dont have a wife. my heart sank, i was conned by someone, today that mint lunchbox would easily sell on ebay for over 2000 dollars. if possible go to estate sales with someone you know so they can watch your stuff., garage sales most ebayers go to these few good tips get there soon as sale opens, look for sales that advertise old antiques, toys, the older stuff the better, i stay away from sales that list baby items, little tykes, clothes, these sales are most likely young couples selling newer items, spread word around to friends and family that your looking for old stuff, antiques etc... place ad in local paper, use caution with this as most people think everything they have is worth big bucks, i have drove many many miles to a house only to find the stuff is broken or not as described, most of time people want you to make offer , then they call someone else, it gets to be a bidding war, so be sure what the caller has is good ask questions, quote them price on phone if they dont have price in mind, be sure if your going to drive to another town that you will be getting something, i drove over 80 miles one time made the lady a fair offer for the stuff she had, then she tells me, i have 3 other people comeing to look at the stuff, i offered her 500 dollars cash. i told her i drove all this way and that is my best price, 2 days later she called me saying i will take the 500 dollars. do you think i went back? nope! i wasn't interested in playing her game, so use caution when buying. hope these tips help some of you ebayers. happy collecting FASTSEARCHER.
Guide created: 10/06/06 (updated 04/23/09)
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